magazine review page analysis #1

The first magazine review page I decided to analyse was from New films. I feel as the overall effect of the review is good due to the use of one main focal image which takes over half of the page. As the image is directly of spider man it automatically indicates what the movie is about. As there is a chain of spiderman and marvel movies one photo is enough for the audience. The black title stands out in the corner of the left page as it contrasts the red text and blocks placed around the pages. The colour scheme largely reflects the movie as a whole considering Spider-Man’s two main colours are black and red, this shows that when contrasting an article it is important to think of relative colour schemes to the film itself. The photo draws more attention to the article than the title. This would probably the main aspect that would draw the audience into reading the piece whilst flicking through the magazine. The article length is standard length when comparing it to other review pages from different institution. The layout also conforms to the codes and conventions of typical magazine review pages which makes it easy to identify. Although the photo takes up the majority of the page, the article is still represented as important due to the length of the text. If the text was shorted it could be clear that the photo was the most dominant aspect of the entire review. As no extra images were used there is less for the audience to view visually, however the one photo used is intriguing due to the body language used and the use of props. The two screw looking props infront of Spider-Man denote danger to the audience which gives away the narrative, this being a superhero/adventure film. On this particular page, the magazine logo takes over a large area of the left page and is partly placed over the photo which illustrates the dominance of the institution. It is there to remind the audience of what magazine they are reading. I personally believe that the logo should be smaller in order to draw more attention to the article itself. As the logo is larger than the title it also takes attention away from this, the film should be priority on the double page spread rather than the magazine itself. Quotes and extra information is used around the main body of text in order to draw the audience in in various ways. For example a small box is used to include short information regarding the film such as length time, duration,actors and star rating. This can be used for readers who do not have a lot of time to read the review or for those who quickly want to make their mind up about whether they should watch it or not.